Schools Kill Creativity – TED Talk By Sir Ken Robinson

Going through my old bookmarks, I found this brilliant 2006 TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson. In this incredible TED Talk, he argues that the public education system across our planet is designed to kill creativity.

In his 10.29 minutes of funny, engaging, and powerful TED talk, Sir Ken Robinson argues that we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers.

He says that students with restless minds and bodies, far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity – are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. He says,

I believe this passionately: that we don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out if it. [tweet this]

We are educating people out of their creative capacities. [tweet this]

He then demonstrates how children aren’t afraid of being wrong to begin with. However, as we start to grow up and continue to educate ourselves, we continue to get fearful of being wrong, failing at anything. To this, he says:

If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original. [tweet this]

Creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status. [tweet this]

What caught my attention is the part where he challenges us saying, “There isn’t an education system on the planet that teaches dance everyday to children the way we teach them mathematics. Why? Why not? I think it’s rather important.”

Isn’t it amazing how our education system, everywhere on the planet earth is focused only on the neck-up as we start growing up? Here is the video:

Sir Ken Robinson is a creativity expert and in this TED Talk, he challenges the way we're educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence.

This TED Talk has been distributed widely around the Web since its release and many bloggers have shared this incredible talk with their readers in many ways. It is possible that you have viewed this talk already and most probably you were amazed. However, I think this video is worth watching one more time.

However, if this is your first encounter with this TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson, you are in for a treat. You are going to say, “Wow!” at the end. These 19 minutes are going to make you laugh and challenge you to think. You are going to enjoy this very much.

If you enjoyed this TED Talk, please share this video with your friends, spread the love. It's an important topic and I belive everybody deserves to see thie video. Don't you think?

Share Your Thoughts Now!

Please do share your views, your thoughts in the comments. I would love to know what you enjoyed the most in this TED Talk and what was the part you most related to.

Kumar Gauraw

Kumar Gauraw is a Personal Branding & Social Media strategist helping entrepreneurs and skilled professionals achieve personal and professional success by developing leadership and leveraging the power of the Internet, Blogging and Social Media.

7 Awesome Thoughts So Far, Add Yours Now...

Guest

Wow..Wow..Wow….You read our minds Bhaiya. You are absolutely right, the education system where we are educated teaches us to be work for some one, not how to work for ourselves.

I still remember Physics classes of my school days. I used to ask questions on which everybody laughed and used to tease me as “Scientist”. But shame on them. I have seen many of my those ideas being implemented in the years down the line. I had dream to win Noble Prize. May be it sounds stupid. But it wasn’t. People who win them are not aliens. What they do is they don’t let others iterfere with their dreams.

I was kid those days. I did not have much exposure to the world. But now, I will follow my dream. Hope to get your continuous blessings and support.

Read our minds Bhaiya. You are absolutely right,we are still the captive of education system where we are taught how to work for some one, not how to
work for ourselves.Education system makes employee, while employers are made by their dreams,guts and fearlessness to be criticized.

I still remember Physics classes of my school days. I used to ask questions on which everybody laughed and used to tease me as “Scientist”. But shame on them. I have seen many of my those ideas being implemented in the years down the line. I had dream to win Noble Prize.
May be it sounds stupid. But it wasn’t. People who win them are not aliens. What they do is they don’t let others interfere with their
dreams.

I was kid those days. I did not have much exposure to the world. But now, I will follow my dream. Hope to get your continuous blessings and
support.

Absolutely Ankit. It happens to all of us. One or the other way, we are all influenced negatively by the society around us and school system plays an important role as Sir Ken Robinson points out. Thank you for leaving your thoughts here. Appreciate your feedback brother!

Rachael

This video is very amusing and packed with insightful information Kumar. Thank you for sharing this on your terrific blog.

i will definitely share this video with my friends also and i will definitely show this video in my classes where i giving lectures its most informative and directive video. But if we considering the today’s scenario most of the parents are appreciating their child’s talents and we seen through reality shows.

When my first boy was born, I learnt a lesson I will never forget: As I watched him fail abysmally over attempts to crawl and walk, overcoming them eventually, I concluded that originality and distinction arise only when we try, fail and correct ourselves.

The school system however does not welcome that! To be classified as a good student, you must get everything correct at first attempt. Students who repeat are scorned etc. Who knows – will that failure not materialize to something greater tomorrow?

Twitter:forest_trailyes, Mr. Ken is right at his statement saying “We are educating people out of their creative capacities” that’s true. I strongly believe in success comes through failure. Parent’s and teachers should let the students to think out of the four wall’s and would let them think creatively.Ashley Recently Posted: How Online Education Can Impact Your Child’s Options

Please Note: My goal is to host interesting conversations with caring, honest, and respectful people. Therefore, I reserve the right to delete comments that are snarky, offensive, or off-topic.

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